Free screenings available
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – In celebration of American Heart Month, the WVU Heart and Vascular Institute will be hosting its annual Women Love Your Heart event from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 3, in the Bruce McClymonds Conference Center at the WVU Heart and Vascular Institute on the campus of WVU Medicine J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital.
“In 2016, a high incidence of heart disease was reported in adult women in West Virginia – 6 percent of the population – which is almost twice as high as the rest of the nation, which was 3.3 percent,” Partho Sengupta, M.D., chief of Cardiology and chair of Cardiac Innovation in the Heart and Vascular Institute, said. “All women in West Virginia therefore should find out how their risk of a future heart attack or stroke could be prevented.”
Free health screenings, personal fitness instruction, and one-on-one nutrition and pharmacy consultations will be offered. Additional testing and consultations with a physician are also available, if needed.
Screenings to be offered include blood pressure, body mass index, EKG, cholesterol, and glucose. Fasting is preferred for the cholesterol and glucose screenings, but it is not required. Only the first 400 participants will be eligible for the free bloodwork screenings.
Participants are asked to bring a list of their medications and supplements, so that staff on hand can provide them with the most accurate information.
Heart disease is the number one killer of women. According to the American Heart Association, an estimated 44 million U.S. women are affected by cardiovascular disease, which causes one in three deaths each year – approximately one woman every minute.
For more information, visit www.wvumedicine.org/loveyourheart.
Editors and reporters: If you plan to cover the Women Love Your Heart event, please RSVP to Angela Jones-Knopf, media relations manager, at knopfa@wvumedicine.org or 304-285-7259.